Religion & Public Life With Mark Silk

Jewish homeland…why not?

Of course Bibi Netanyahu’s offer
to stop settlement construction if the Palestinian leadership “will say
unequivocally to its people that
it recognizes Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people,” was
designed to be rejected. And the Palestinian leadership immediately went
ahead and rejected it.

What would have been smart would have been to accept it. As In:

Sure,
we recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. And we also
recognize it as a democratic state where all its citizens have equal
rights as citizens–just as the new bill before the Knesset says. And
you know what, for Israeli Arabs, its their homeland too. Actually those
people and their relatives are, like, Palestinians. OK? So now stop the
building.

That would have thrown the Netanyahu government into a complete tizzy. And maybe even led to some progress in the peace talks.

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About the Author

Mark Silk
Mark Silk is Professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College and the author of Spiritual Politics: Religion and America Since World War II and Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America.» Posts by Mark SilkMore »